At a time when The Beatles were headlining the British musical invasion of America perhaps the strongest response from across the pond came from the Motown label. Motown possessed the capability of producing hit after hit from its collection of artists and each recording featured a very tight rhythm section.
Not surprising really as unbeknown to those listening in the UK at the time, the backing section was almost always down to a small group of musicians that became known as The Funk Brothers. Their work schedule was pretty demanding but after a day of sessions they could often be found still playing together in the local clubs at night so it’s no wonder that they were an extremely well integrated unit with a sound and groove of their own.
However, in the ’60s there was no system for recording who did what on a session and it transpires that Motown were particularly poor record keepers. Even they are unsure of who played on what for their early sessions so it’s not surprising that for some considerable time the world remained ignorant of the individuals responsible for making this phenomenal sound. [read]
Joe The Flow 